valentia
by stanzas
Summary: creation has a name, and it ends with death. "divide and conquer, that is our way, as i separate you from my side, my favored one." / the gods choose vessels for the essence of their land, but each time they fight, one will always be doomed to slay the other and the story will never change.


**summary**: creation has a name, and it ends with death. "divide and conquer, that is our way, as i separate you from my side, my favored one." / translates to "liberty or valiance" - through the centuries they fought like that of siblings, brushing up against each other in quarrels and bringing destruction where they trode until torn apart, only to clash once again;;

**a/n- **my beta will never let me live this down  
"is this a hetalia fic" /chokes on blood/ _no  
_this fic will probably make absolutely no sense when you read it so just bear with me, the ending hopefully explains it in terms that are tangible.

* * *

**.α.**

**I**n the land of many, _She_ rises from the east and brings new age and light upon her hand. _He_, the ever loyal brother, rises from the west, upon a stallion of carnage that he can ride alone and darkness shadows in his steps.

She wields a shield of power and the gods bow to her name, their creator and caretaker, the first and the name of many; Almighty Greece, sister, mother, rise and fight!

He grips a sword of gold, and a chariot with rolling stars as wheels, the edges of his cloak stained by the taint of those who thought to oppose him; Victory unto Rome, brother, father, divide and conquer!

There is finite patience in her eyes, but kindness will not go without name. She will ride past without thought to those unworthy, and brings gratitude to those who call her name. Her voice is willing and illuminates the darkness of the new world, and they flock like sheep to a shepard, creatures to a light, into her realm.

His eyes will burn past every hill, and speak over the roll of mountains. He is young and untrained, and his time to rule is yet to come. For now he is nothing but a thought that has yet to form. He can not rule, for he is but a child; he will have eras to be patient, bide, and learn to seize his own power one day. She is able and lean, young and fair, and stars glitter in her hair, and her reign will last for ages to come.

She bows and leans upon a throne of light from her child Apollo, and smiles down below to the valleys in the rivers and the creatures who rest upon her chest. Her crown is weaved of a thousand beams from the goddess Artemis, and golden wheat braids her hair and seawater flows through her veins, while clouds drift out each breath and towards the stars.

"I am the first, the greatest, the least," she says, and all will listen as her words wash over their eyes with brilliance and majesty, in awe and spector. "I am the earth, the mother, the sister, and I shall create all that I see."

From the mountain she creases and her heart is formed at the center of a grand palace, Mount Olympus where her children will rule. They are many and scattered, Myceneae, Cycladi, Minoan, but they are unified under one tongue and under the shelter of one mother. She casts her eyes across their barren land and her words are firm but gentle like water rushing over stones:

"I will be named Greece, peace unto my people, and safety under my arms."

**.β.**

They call her the Bronze goddess, as she weaves her people out of the earth and breathes them life. Her sky is the air she breathes and the mountains a shadow of her arms, embracing her people and surrounding them, dividing them, and uniting them.

Her people cry under her arms; "Greece, my fair one, take not our courage, but our illness and deceit, forfeit our lies and cowardice for shields of suns and swords of valiance!"

They call her by her beauty and speak of her will; while she creates for them idols of worship, and evils they know by name.

"Hail, Zeus! Lord of the skies!"

"Hail, Poseidon! Lord of the seas!"

"Hail, Hades! Lord of the underworld!"

"Hail, Olympia, Greece, the greatest and most powerful in the world!"

**.γ.**

From Greece, sprung a boy named Sparta; and he was feared and respected by his military power and his equality for men and women to share the same power; they trained for battles and sought war at all costs, and Ares claimed his home.

There was another, a grey eyed goddess, who created Athens as it leapt from the ground like an olive tree; the roots became the palaces and gardens and the people became animated from the leaves and danced freely with the air. They learned arts and philosophy, shared ideas, and sailed through the Athenian sea, and like their brother Sparta, were rivaled and respected.

More people grew from the roots like ripe fruit and fell from the tree of Olympia; from the polis they formed government, and laws, and wars were fought across her land and scarred her fair skin. It was to be expected from these battle scars, for what is a ruler without having fought a battle?

There was the Persian wars and Peloponnesian wars and battles that ceded their city states and parts of her once unblemished skin, began to taint from the outside world that her mountains could not keep out. Pylos, the wicked serpent, tore her flesh and poisoned her; growing weaker, but still maintaining her people, as they sapped her strength and reservoir of resources. As the poison spread her power faltered and her people stole what little left she had; they kept growing and advancing and overshadowed her, becoming stronger while she fell to shambles.

Now they cried; "Mother Greece, we are older and wiser, and can support ourselves if you help us carry our weight!" and their cries go unheard; she falls to rest and Greece is plunged into darkness.

.**ζ.**

When she awakens, Greece is thriving and she is barely surviving. As the era passes to another (dark ages, archaic, classical, her life is but only a few ages) there is another standing in the distance, blotting out the sun and tempting shadows over her land.

**.Σ.**

She is weak but capable, and growing stronger as the time continues to pass. And then;

two brothers, a wolf.

**.θ.**

One is named Remus and the other, Romulus. They are herded to the She-wolf, the one with silver eyes and silver fur; unflinching at the face of danger, stern and ruthless.

"Divide and conquer," she tells them. "That is our way." She teaches them to fight, to defend, protect, and to kill.

"You must know these things when you will rule your empire one day," she says, and they heel to her call. Men and wolf ; wolf and man.

"You shall call me mother, Lupa, the first of your kind. It is I who raised you here this day, and you shall remember my name."

Romulus is killed while Zeus' eagle passes overhead. Remus creates an empire.

_He_ breathes. _She_ flickers and fades steadily.

Rome is born.

**.Ω.**

Greece falters where she is struck. She has heard of Alexander, of Rome, and witnessed Hellenistic culture, Antioch, and Alexandria. This foreign flavor burns her mouth, distasteful, acidic to the touch.

"Have you no mercy, brother?" she asks. "You would slay your sister for this power?"

"You have never called me brother," Rome says. "I am stronger - _greater_ - more powerful!"

"You are but a child; you know not what burden a ruler bears."

He strikes her again, and her people scatter. Greece crumbles and shrinks, to retreat from the next blow.

He raises a sword of gold above her head, glinting from the west sun. She bares down on him, her eyes sharp as flint and steel.

"One day, brother," she vows. "One day Rome shall fall underhand it's own kind, and when you call for me, I will not come."

"Divide and conquer," he says, and the sword dips lower. "Unite and seize."

"You will be cursed on your land, from where one brother slay another," she tells him. "And in turn, your own brother will strike you down, as Kronos struck Ouranos and Zeus struck him in turn."

He strikes her again, and Olympia cascades down the mountains and sinks below the ground. Greece screams in agony while her cities are ripped apart. Her gods fall and vanish into golden dust. She falls.

"I grow weary of your presence," he is uncaring and violent, ruthless and brutal as the wolf who trained him. "my most favored one, but this end is inevitable. You have ruled this eon, but the time for a new ruler has come."

The sword pierces the sunlight.

"_Ave_, hail, for _I_ am Rome."

**.I.**

He sits upon a throne of gold and a wreath of laurels, a robe of white, and a cape of red. He does not lay down the land for his people, other than to aid them and direct them, to conquer other lands.

He digs his hands under the remains of Greece and finds Olympia, where he cradles it in his hands and seats it upon Rome.

"I will give you life again," he promises Olympia. "And I will improve you, and make you better."

Olympia becomes Palatine. The gods breathed life, but their eyes were different, their clothes, their faces had changed; their names along with them. They had eyes of gold and they were unfeeling, unknowing from where they had come.

_"Ave, Jupiter Optimus Maximus!"_

_"Ave, Mars Ultor!"_

_"Ave, Juno Mateo!"_

_"Ave, salve, Rome!"_

**.II.**

Rome builds and conquers every step of the way. He creates monuments, designs for grand cathedrals of marble, Coliseum, monumento, _maximus_ - bigger and better and greater than before.

"I am Rome," he says and his heart is cast in iron. "All must bow to me."

A chorus of thick voices that ring out brave and strong through the valleys and cities. "_Ave, Rome_."

**.III.**

Julius Caesar brings the new age of rulers of plebeian and patrician rulers, and unites the people of Rome as one.

"_Ave_, hail, _Caesar_!"

**.IV.**

_"E tu, Brute?"_

Julius Caesar is stabbed 23 times by his best friend, one he called brother, and many of his most trusted council senators.

Rome stirs in his chair. He does not look away.

**.V.**

Augustus Caesar brings a new age to Rome; the age of emperors and unites the entirety of Rome.

He sits in his throne of gold and holds the heart of Olympus, and Jupiter rises to aid. Juno wards and warns them of unforeseen trouble. Mars Ultor slices down those who dare stand in his way, his laughter full of malicious glee and his eyes burning red.

Rome is feared and powerful. This era seems like it shall last forever.

**.VI.**

Mount Vesuvius erupts and buries Pompeii under ash, lava flowing freely from the crest and spilling over the city.

He winces at the sting of each Roman life extinguished; he was foolish to think this peace could ever last.

**.VII.**

_"Ave, Pax Romana!" (hail, peace in rome!)_

**.VIII.**

There is fiddle music playing and laughter from a tower, while miles of Rome burn.

Nero waits in his capsule of safety, playing his instrument, and laughing as the countryside burns.

Rome howls in agony.

**.IX.**

Commodus takes power, and Rome lays in a fetal position.

"Sister, sister!" he cries. "Greece - _olympia_ - save me from this torture! Mother, have mercy!"

His sister does not rise. Olympus is unmoved. He is alone.

Then;

"Strike me down," he tells Diocletian, who does so as Rome falls to pieces. "I can not bear this agony."

"Farewell brother Rome," and the empire has declined until it ceased to exist at all.

**.X.**

Part of the empire survives, struggling, under Constantine.

They are moved to Constantinople, the peninsula of many walls, with new gods and new religion. Byzantine thrives, slowly, but Rome has passed his expiration. The era of Rome has come to an end.

**.ξ.**

As Rome was moved to Byzantine and slowly grew out of his old customs, portions of Greece manifested and survived in other realms. West Europe is cloaked in darkness without their mother to carry their lantern, but they stumble and muddle through the ages.

"Fight for England, bare your mark!"

**.XI.**

_"Baitalle, France!"_

As with Greece, parts of Rome instilled itself in new nations.

**.Π.**

"-well if we don't do anything - This war will tear Europa apart!"

"_Zeuz_, this idea is ridiculous-"

"Stop it with the French accent, Hera, your tone isn't flattering."

"My brother may have a point," Poseidon says as the halls cease to a dull rumble. "America is stable. They are fighting a war of their own against us - if we can not defeat them, perhaps join them."

"We can't just leave Olympia!" Juno warns. "Unguarded - unprotected - how will we be safe from attacks?"

"We could move Olympus with us," Athena reasoned from her throne. Olympus falters and the air stills with static energy.

Vulcan fiddled with the bronze contraption on his chair, and the edges of his pants sparked. "Even if we could move Olympus, the last few times we've moved had taken the hands of Greece, or Rome-"

"We can move it ourselves." Jupiter insists. "This war will tear us apart."

"It's tearing Olympus apart as well," Neptune agrees. "We are splitting sides at random intervals, even quarreling brings us further to annihilation..."

"I didn't know you even possessed that vocabulary," one of Athena's eyebrows quirks up in a challenge.

"Oh, go weave something, Minerva."

**.XII.**

_"Comment allons-nous survivre à cette guerre?" (how will we ever survive this war?)_

_"Je ne sais pas. Priez." (I do not know. pray.)_

**.ψ.**

Greece moves first, to the city of Pennsylvania known as Philadelphia. Britain loses their war. America is born.

Greece is reborn unto the United States of America. She opens her eyes and this new, brittle air, whispers to her. She holds a lantern in her hand and stands at the harbor and guides in ships to her new land.

"I am America," she says. "I am the Land of Opportunities."

**.XIII.**

Rome joins her as more people escape to America.

"We should join as one," Rome says. "To keep our nation safe."

"I can not trust you," Greece tells him.

He pleads "Please, sister," and united states they are once more.

**.φ.**

"I stand for Greece," a man with dark skin and light eyes raises a lance, and embodies a shield in his left hand. "I am Sparta, Athens, citystates as one!"

"I am Legion," a girl with white hair and blue eyes stands over a field of bodies, torn apart, splayed across the wheat. "Fulminata, _ave_, Jupiter!"

_"I am Rome,"_ she says.

_"I am Greece,_" he says.

Their eyes glow with light and they are consumed in total by the gods they posess.

**.XIV.**

Jupiter paces the throne room.

"If we continue living like this..." Juno warns. "Our Greek counterparts will tear us apart."

"Let them!" Minerva shouts. "Avenge me! My children will bring honor to Athena - tear the Romans to nothing!"

"Athena," Mars says and for once his tone is soothing, however brittle and weary. "Calm."

Her eyes blaze bright with indignation and he steps hesitantly away from the grey eyed goddess.

"We should separate," Vesta murmurs. "One home in the East, the other in the west, as they had done in Europe..."

Demeter pipes in. "But we are in the same country, our children will continuously cross paths. War will never cease."

"If we erase their memories, perhaps not." Pluto strokes the edge of his throne embroidered with skulls and bones; some bleached white, and others more fairly recent. Nobody ever commented on the state of his throne as it was usually made last minute for he was only summoned for emergency meetings and solstices. "Cause them to forget all meetings. Lupa and Chiron must be split apart. This war will destroy not only our children, but the world itself."

"One day they will have to be brought together," Hera refuses to let her thoughts be ignored. "Be it a century or more, other evils will attempt to destroy The Land of Dreams. We have been keeping false hope _She_ would sleep, but we all can feel her stirring."

Jupiter shifts uncomfortably in his chair and the static in the room seems to increase in volumes. "Even if _She_ was waking the others...we still have roots in Europe. Rome. Greece. It would take her ages to destroy each. The Land of Dreams would be safe with our protection, but as for France, England, the others..."

"We could put them to sleep," Hestia's voice was quiet. "It would give us more time."

"Time to do what?" Dionysus grumbles. "We're _gods_. Putting that old coot to rest and mother madness along with it...that's not within our power."

Aphrodite turns to inspect her hair with a mirror on the side of her chair, and her tone was clipped. "We won't be the ones doing it, is what she means. We'd have to lock their power in a mortal."

"They'd burn out in an instant," Mercury says. "No mortal can withstand the true form of a god, how would they..." Then it seemed to dawn on him as the rest of the gods.

"You can't be serious," Artemis leaned forward in her chair.

"One of our own children," Apollo shook his head. "Vesta, I think that unwise."

Ares sneers "Why, you got some prophetic vision to explain it then?"

The sun god's fingers flexed and clenched into a fist. "In many cultures I am seen as the creator, the father, the first among many. I went by many forms;_ Ra, Amon-Ra, Sol, Yhi, Ngai, Apollo_ is just a name."

Artemis made a face at her brother, and the silver crown shifted slightly on her forehead as she frowned, as if she was thinking of her other counterparts. Several other gods looked uncomfortable.

"We can not remove our Roman counterparts," Apollo said. "Nor our Greek ones. Neither can we abandon The Land of Dreams, and the Lands of the East. The cycle can not be stopped."

"We can't keep running east, Brother," Artemis frowns. "The prophecy -"

"To Hades with the prophecy!" Pluto shoots a dark glare in his direction. "This is the balance of the world in our hands. This is more than ourselves - more than our children - _SHE_ can not be allowed to rise. Zeus said we must be prepared to take sacrifices." Apollo leans to settle back in his throne. "If you are all so hesitant, I will make the first one."

"Our children," Jupiter does not look thrilled with the idea and trails off from his original thought. "as...I suppose you are correct."

"Zeus!" Neptune looks horrified. "They are _children_."

"They are _demigods_," Zeus shifts, as though the attention focused on him makes him uncomfortable. "They were born into this, whether they wanted to or not."

Hera is quiet. "Who do we choose?"

"Greece has a vessel that was decimated in mere moments. As with Rome." Ares clenches his fist over the curve of his throne. "We can only choose the strongest."

Juno nods. "I will see to our chosen."

The throne room silences and empties within seconds. Jupiter sighs and turns his head to Vesta. "What of our plan, sister?"

Vesta's eyes glow molten in the fire light and the hearth glows with heat. "There is a reason I left this council, brother."

"Yes, but-"

"It will work." she turns the poker in the fire. "Gods have taken the forms of mortals for centuries. Half of your children would not exist if not for that."

"That is Mist, just simple glamour. This will be like installing a sun into a single mortal. They can barely stand in the presence of titans. If it does not succeed, they will evaporate and all will be lost."

"Sacrifices," Hestia's voice grows quiet. "Risks. It's all a dangerous game, brother."

"I know." Jupiter shimmers and his hair greys more, switching between a toga and a chiton, as though the idea unsettles both sides of his faces. For a moment he looks more like a Viking, like Thor from a comic book a child might clutch on a station train under his mother's careful watch. "I know."

**.υ.**

Two children are chosen: one named under Apollo, and the other named under Mars.

Apollo's daughter swallows what appears to be a small sun and her body hums with light. She blinks once at her father before she froze in place, turning to stone before their eyes.

The son of Mars simply turns to stone without a thought. Apollo and Mars glance once at each other in silent mourning, and two solemn statues.

"Take them to Greece, and Rome," Juno says.

Both gods vanish with the statues, leaving an empty garden. Juno peers out in the clearing and silently promises that next time, next time, her champions must be stronger.

* * *

_**- GREECE - **_

_**UNDER THE TEMPLE OF APHAIA**_

* * *

Firelight from Leo's palm flickered off the walls. Hazel remained close to the light, while Annabeth ran her hands over the stone walls as if looking for a chink in the armor of stone, and finding none.

"Annabeth," Piper groaned. "The others will come and get us soon enough. We can't be trapped down here for too much longer. _Please _try to restrain yourself."

"I hate underground," Jason muttered. "And dark. Did I mention I hate underground?"

"Gods, I'm hungry," Leo whined.

"You ate only a few hours ago." Piper cast him an unimpressed look.

"I also have to use the bathroom."

"Baby."

His eyes flashed silver in the light, and he straightened before Leo could struggled for a successful retort. "_Awaken, brother._"

"What." Hazel blanched at him, and when his gaze doesn't waver, she leaned away. "Uh. Guys?"

"_Awaken_," Leo said again, as if he was in a daze. "_I shall rise from the East bearing Fruits..._"

"Did he hit his head again?" Percy asked. The others seemed as clueless for what was going on as he was.

_"I rise from the West,_" Jason's voice gained the same tone, like he was sleeping. His eyes turned bright gold and bleached out the blue. "_On my chariot of carnage.._."

Piper made a noise similar a cat being stepped on. Everyone immediately zeroed in on the two suddenly hostile demigods in the room.

Jason drew his lance and the air sparkled with electric energy. Leo reached into his toolbelt and brought out a sledgehammer the size of his head, and his palms lit with new dangerous fire.

Both their eyes looked like solid metal; Leo's turning from silver to bronze, and Jason's flashing dangerous gold.

_"I am Greece!"_ Leo growled. Everyone scattered to the side of the room. "_You, brother, have betrayed me._"

"_Ave, I am Rome!"_ Jason's knuckles whitened against his solid grip on the sword. "_You, sister, will not rule in this age."_

"Did he just call Leo a girl?" Percy whispered.

"Piper, do something!" Annabeth gestured madly between the two boys in the center of the room, preparing to destroy each other.

Piper didn't hesitate to take action. "Jason! Leo! Put down your weapons. Stand down." Her voice soothed back into a firm, unwielding vice. Percy suddenly had the urge to put down Riptide (when had he taken out his sword? somewhere between the auto defense in his head and his confusion with Jason and Leo being possessed) and lay down under Piper's command.

Both of them turned to her with a cruel, distant smiles. "_Daughter of Aphrodite, even you can not force the consciousnesses from these bodies. They have been chosen for us. They are Olympia's strongest vessels._"

"What." Hazel glanced quickly between the rest of the group.

"Piper," Annabeth warned.

"Oh no?" Piper winced. "I can't snap them out of it. Plan B?"

"Right," Hazel said. "Any suggestions for ideas before I intervene?"

Leo gripped his mallet and his knees bent, as if preparing to jump. Jason did the same, and raised the lance to charge.

"Not particularly," Annabeth said.

"Wait, how are you planning to _intervene_?" Piper sideyed the daughter of Pluto.

Percy saw a grim light in her golden eyes. He started "Hazel, I _strongly_ disagree with whatever you're planning-"

His words were cut out as Leo breathed in, and exhaled an entire column of fire. The room lit up like an inferno, and the heat glanced the walls and nearly burned off his hair.

"Right!" Percy yelps. "Hazel, now would be a good time to intervene!"

Jason battered Leo with the side of his sword, and swiped along his head, nearly decapitating him. Leo ducked at the last moment, autonomous, as if all his actions were being controlled by a faraway user. He retaliated with another column of fire.

Hazel closed her eyes and Piper drew her dagger and cornucopia, as if hoping to knock one of them out with a flying fruit or seek unhelpful prophetic information from the dagger. Annabeth braced herself against the wall to look as insignificant as possible, which in all other situations, Percy supposed that would have been cowardly, except she was weaponless and the best place to be was out of the action. He held his sword aloft in case of last minute protection if things got more hairy than they could handle.

From Hazel's aura, darkness spread in the air and swallowed the firelight. Piper shivered as the cold tendrils of dark magic breached the air surrounding her. They drew closer, closing arms around the battling demigods.

As Jason slammed Leo into the ground and moved to stab him with the hilt, her eyes opened. Annabeth flinched when her eyes glowed brighter than usual, and the darkness swallowed Leo and Jason whole. They vanished in a moment and reappeared the next, unconscious. She exhaled calmly and her eyes returned to a minute golden glow.

"What the...?" Piper didn't finish the thought, as they were all thinking the same thing.

Hazel's magic retreated, and her face soured as if she had tasted something unpleasant.

"What?" Annabeth asked, tentatively.

"It's strange," Hazel said. "If they'd been possessed, I could have felt a foreign intrusion, but this...it's part of them."

"What did they say?" Annabeth seemed to be thinking aloud. Piper moved to check on the two unconscious forms, but Percy stopped her gently.

"They said they were Greece," Percy said. "and Rome. Whatever that means."

Hazel seemed thoughtful. "It was as if they'd become the aura of Greece and Rome themselves."

_"To storm or fire the world must fall,_" Piper recited, her voice growing more quiet. "Greece and Rome must join sides to defeat Gaea, but if they don't bring the Parthenon to Camp on time... Maybe whoever defeats the other will defeat her."

The darkness seemed to draw closer, even though Hazel wasn't controlling it anymore. Annabeth glanced around the room.

Percy said "Nobody's defeating anybody yet," although his tone seemed doubtful, unsure. "We're all coming out of this war in one piece."

Piper nodded, and then rushed forward to support Jason's head. Hazel propped Leo up against the wall. "They should be fine, I just knocked them out briefly." she ran a hand over his forehead. "He's resting."

From the walls, Percy heard another voice, not Gaea's or any he had heard before and he couldn't tell if the others heard it or not - _to storm or fire, Percy Jackson. You and Jason Grace must choose who will be my storm. Which of you will be Greece, or Rome._

_Only one of you may win this war. The others will never reach Olympus. Only the strongest will prevail._

* * *

**_fine_**


End file.
